[ale] M$ does at least ONE thing right

[Sean Kilpatrick]

On Tue, 28 Jan 2003 07:37:51 -0500, Geoffrey wrote:

>I'll give M$ credit when they deserve it, I've yet to see they do. 


Every once in a while M$ does something right. It's rare, but
it does happen. <grin>
DISCLAIMER: I have been trying to live without M$ for more than
10 years now, first with OS/2 and now with Linux. M$'s new EULAs
will keep me away.

Something right:

system: pre-installed Win2K Pro version.

Problem: get it to find, recognize and install drivers for an HP 3C
scanner.  This scanner is so old it came with a proprietary ISA bus
SCSI card.  New computer doesn't _have_ an ISA slot.  So first I
had to purchase and install an Adaptec SCSI card.  Windows found
the SCSI card and loaded the proper driver the first time the
OS was booted. Painless.  But it couldn't identify the scanner. So
I ran the proper daemon and told it to look for that specific scanner
on the SCSI bus. Bingo. Win2k identified the scanner and immediately
loaded the proper driver for it. Which is a good thing because HP
hasn't supported this scanner for at least five years now and does
not provide a Win2k driver. Total elapsed time: 3 minutes. Works
fine. Fully integrated with Photoshop (the only reason this box is
still dual-booted).
Getting the Linux OS to find, recognize and install drivers for this
antique was _not_ so easy. It took hours to locate and install the
proper software.

Conclusion: every once in a while, mostly by accident and dumb luck,
M$ manages to do something right.  But I'll never go back.



Sean




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